Poorely developed back muscles in area behind scapula, whithers (18yo slo wb mare). Saddle of this mare sits too low in the front and stops the movement of the scapula when the horse steps forward. The muscle can't develop there (you can notice the hole). Because of pinching the horse doesn't want to step with long stride. He's misunderstood for being lazy. Because the front end sits too low, the back end moves, slightly touching and irritating back muscles in lombar area when the horse moves. So they become contracted and unelastic. We havent changed the saddle, we've just added Equitex undersaddle. Keep tuned to see the result after one month... #saddlefitting #importantundersaddle #equitex #johannesspitaler #horsebackmusclesdevelopement #poorbackmusckes

Only when you can stretch the topline of your horse withouth effort and your horse carries you in balance, you are ready for starting the collecting work. The biggest challenge when collecting horses is to keep the same ability to stretch inbetween collection exercises. #relaxedtoplinehorse #stretchovertopline #horseriderinbalance #beforecollectinghorses #bitless

Good riding and training does make horses feel better! ;) On this pcs you can see a quarter horse gelding (18 yo) before (above) and after (below) a lesson of work in hand and riding. * Notice (in the pics above) this horse stands in a 'goat' position. His hind feet are close together, underneath his body with very straight joints, which is a sign of tension in thighs and psoas muscles and ilio sacral area. Consequently his pelvis lays more backwards. You can see some tension in the poles area and his underneck is working. He's leaning on his front feet and he puts even more weight on his right front leg. * This is his natural and over years gained asymmetry. He's like older people that worked a lot in life, also had some minor injuries and thus he preferes to keep this posture when coming out of the stable. But after some well choosen exercise his posture changes... * His whole topline is in a better frame (pics below), more relaxed, especially the underneck. The weight between his front feet is distributed more evenly. He stands more squarely. His pelvis is more in a neutral position. The tensions in the iliopsoas had been released, thus he can place his hind feet more apart and leave them further back to distribute his weight more evenly over all his feet, even he is higher in his croupe by nature. In both moments photos have been taken from far, so the horse could place himself as he prefered to. The good effects of work on this horse are obvious. #workinhandhorses #goodtraining #riding #quarterhorse #horsetopline #horseunderneck

If after riding your horse, you notice dry areas like here, you can be pretty sure your saddle doesn't fit your horse well and you have to fix this immediately. This is the spot where pressure from the saddle is concentrated and is compressing the skin and tissues underneath, therefore sweat glands can't function normally. #horseback #saddlefitting #horsesweating #horsebackproblems #suitablesaddle

Are you training the right muscles of your horse in your horse spare time? The position of this feeding pot is too high. It should be placed 30 cm lower for THIS horse. The pot should be also wider and have shallow sides. So this horse could relax more his neck and behind the poles area. With lower head and neck also his whole top line would be in a better posture (less hollow back). Think: If you are feeding the horse 3 times per day and he stays with his head in the pot for 5-10' this is equal to a 15 min to half an hour of pasive training. #horsetraining #horsesparetime #horsefeedingpot #horsefeeding🐴 #horsegoodposture #horseneckmuscles #horsemusclesaroundpoles

Horse asymmetry during riding: notice this 17yo slo WB gelding's asimmetry under the saddle. Going in trot on the right hand is much easier for him then on the left one. When I change rein it looks like he's almost limping. But he's not, the weird movement it's because of his asymmetry in the legs and stifness of his right side of the body. I use the exercise shoulder-fore to the left to help him get more supple and engage more his left hind leg. As soon as he manage to do quarter of a circle in the right frame, I praise him with a rest in halt.

Well developed horse back vs. poorly developed back. 8yo KWPN gelding (upper pics) / 8yo hungarian warmblood mare (lower pics). You can estimate quite quickly when a horse back is well developed just by looking to a horse from the side. Well developed back has smooth transitions from front to the back end. The line from whithers to tale makes a smooth wave with equal amplitude. If you have the opportunity to tuch it, the muscles should be soft, skin should feel elastic, the coat silky and you don't feel the vertebra processes while gently passing above the spine. #horseback #welldevelopedhorseback #poorelydevelopedhorseback #horseosteopathy #equinebodywork #trainingmeetsbodywork #smoothmuscleshorse

Very poorely developed back muscles/back muscle atrophy of a horse, due to unappropriate undersaddle and bad horse's posture during the work (training), 8 yo hungarian warmblood mare. You can notice rugh transition of my hand passing from withers area to the middle of the back and see the 'inprint' of the saddle on her back. The undersaddle and gel usually used while saddling this mare have no carateristics to give the back muscles room for developement, even her saddle fits her. With Equitex undersaddle and proper training this muscles should get much better in two to three months. #muscleatrophy #horsebackmuscles #poorbackmuscles #horsebackriding #Equitex #johannesspitaler #horseosteopathy

Horse's natural asymmetry: Do you know which hind leg of your horse has more pushing and which one has more carrying ability? Do you know that according to this fact you can choose better exercises or repetitions to perform on one hand compared to the other hand of riding your horse. Thus you'll make your horse straighter. You can learn more about this on Cavallista's seminars Training meets body work with Katja Porenta Equine Bodywork #horseasymmetry #horsebiomechanics #straightnesstraining #straighthorse #horsetraining #horsecaryingpushinghindlegs

V soboto smo uspešno izpeljali še en Training meets Bodywork seminar! Tokrat sva bili s Katjo na obisku v Zagrebu (Hrvaška). Krasno vzdušje, krasni ljudje in krasni konjiči! Hvala vsem za udeležbo, pozitivnost in odprtost, bilo je enkratno! :D

Well developed, supple back muscles of a horse as a result of a good training, posture and proper saddle fitting (18 yo geling, quarter horse). #horseanatomy #horsebiomechanics #goodhorsetraining #goodsaddle #saddlefitting #horseriderback #horsebackmuscles